The Cabins at Bear River Lodge

Modern Cabins and Winding Snowmobile Trails in Uinta Mountains

When Roger Eggett first purchased The Cabins at Bear River Lodge, he got little more than an old building set amid the wilderness in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest about two hours east of Salt Lake City. Eggett quickly replaced the outdated lodge with modern cabins and a pair of hot tubs, but wisely left the surrounding forests untouched. He hoped this would encourage visitors to spend their vacations outdoors, creating lasting memories on the area’s hiking and cross-country-skiing paths and ATV trails, just as he and his family had done. Click here for a video introduction to the mountain resort, narrated by Roger himself.

The cabins sit in an area of the forest set aside for exploration via ATV and snowmobile. From here, you can access hundreds of miles of trails that wind past woodlands inhabited by moose, elk, and other wildlife. By adding Option 7 or 8, you’ll have a full-day rental (8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.) of one of Bear River Lodge’s snowmobiles, so you can zip through the forest or rev engines to the tune of Beethoven’s Ninth. Wintertime also means sledding down the tubing hill or glide across the 30-mile Lily Lake cross-country-skiing trail.

Each one-bedroom and two-bedroom cabin features a jetted tub and a spacious living room with leather couches and a flat-screen TV. Walkout patios look out over the rushing Bear River. Although each cabin is equipped with a full kitchen and outdoor gas grill, the breakfast and lunch menu at Bear's Grill can help relieve some cooking duties. The attached convenience store is stocked with groceries, beverages, and fishing supplies.

Summit County, Utah: Multiuse Trails in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest

The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest is a recreational playground crisscrossed by hundreds of miles of ATV, snowmobile, and cross-country-skiing trails. If you want to venture out on foot, there are several nonmotorized trails, open only to hikers, horses, and determined kayakers. For a introduction to the forest, take the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway, a 65-mile, two-hour drive with several scenic vistas overlooking picturesque mountain lakes.